Heavy Mettle

Why Andheri’s B69 is unlikely to go the way of Juhu’s Razzberry Rhinoceros.

Photo: Shantanu Mendhekar.

Marine Centre in Vashi, D’Ultimate in Andheri, Bayview in Borivali, and the appropriately named Space Jam in Santa Cruz. You might not have ever heard of these places, unless perhaps you’re a part of Mumbai’s small but faithful metal scene. These were the venues that bands and concert organisers tried out between 2008, when Juhu pub-turned-banquet hall Razzberry Rhinoceros stopped hosting gigs, and August 2010, when B69 opened in a nondescript lane in Andheri East.

Nine months later, and unlike the aforementioned venues, B69 is still holding shows—at least one a week—and has absolutely no plans of ceasing to do so anytime soon. Unlike the other places, there’s no door policy (you couldn’t wear shorts or slippers at D’Ultimate) and costs aren’t prohibitive (at Bayview, you didn’t have to just arrange for sound and light equipment but also a generator to combat the frequent power cuts in Borivali). Most importantly though, B69 isn’t also a restaurant, or a pub, it’s solely, and is sold as, a pure concert venue–and one that may not be raking in the moolah, but makes more than enough to take care of operational costs, while earning tons of goodwill from the city’s indie music fraternity.

B69 is an off-shoot of Bajaao, an online music and equipment store founded and run by Ashu Pande in the mid-noughties. Pande, who also ran a jam room called NOC in 2006, opened B69 to give Mumbai a permanent venue for metal bands (which most pubs are reluctant to host). Today, B69–which is accessed through a blink-and-miss-it narrow stairway in a lane near Shiv Sagar restaurant in Andheri East–doesn’t just host metal and alternative music gigs organised by Bajaao but is frequently rented out by other music-centric event management companies, as well as colleges that host elimination rounds of their annual rock competitions (the list includes the prestigious Mood-I by IIT Mumbai). It’s also the Mumbai location of the live “webcerts” screened by Indian independent music website ArtistAloud.com (the performers range from Indo-Swedish fusion band Mynta to pop singer Manasi Scott).

After all, B69 comes kitted out with everything an indie band needs: a Peavey sound system and guitar amplifiers, a Roland digital mixer, a Basix drum kit, a standing capacity of 300 and a captive audience of kids living in the Western suburbs who were so starved of a metal venue that over 500 of them showed up on the opening night of August 1, 2010 when the genre’s biggest bands in Mumbai, Demonic Resurrection, Scribe, and Bhayanak Maut all performed. The one thing they didn’t have, as the crowd learned, was adequate ventilation, and so three air-conditioners and three exhaust fans were installed soon after. But B69’s biggest asset is its no-frills ambience, which makes bands want to play there despite its shortcomings. “I’ve played there three times, and every time, I say I’m never going to play there again because it gets too hot on stage,” said Bhayanak Maut drummer Rahul Hariharan. “But I always return.”

The reason: B69 is the new Razz, which served in 1990s and early 2000s as the nurturing grounds for some of Indian rock and metal’s most popular acts today. And this isn’t only because the neon blue tube lights remind you of that erstwhile Juhu institution. “A whole lot of bands have got a new platform to play,” said Hariharan, who performed there as recently as last weekend. “Musicians are meeting each other, exchanging ideas and talking about collaborating.”

It’s not just metal bands but indie acts across genres—The Mavyns and Bombay Bassment have both played there, while Sridhar/Thayil are part of the line-up this weekend—who flock to B69, which has also held concert and cricket match screenings. The big difference between Razz and B69: they’re not in it for the money but first and foremost, for the love of the music. “Everyone from the stage tech to the marketing guys is from the [indie music] scene,” said Roydon Bangera, who along with Jimmy Bhore, the vocalist of thrash metal band Zygnema, is in charge of marketing at B69. Bangera manages another Mumbai-based thrash metal band, Devoid, while the stage technicians Pritesh Prabhune and Afaque Azad are the drummer of Chronic Phobia and the vocalist of Infernal Wrath respectively. Founder Pande was the guitarist for Xenon.

And while the entrance fees for gigs, which are typically in the Rs150 range, help pay for the lights (the only thing they outsource) and the performing acts, a large portion of B69’s revenue in the last four months has been coming from Bajaao.It, a new division that rents out the venue’s in-house sound equipment for rock shows across the city. “During the week, it’s just lying there,” said Bangera. So far, Bajaao.It has provided sound for events such as the annual college festival of the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai, the Converse Original Band Hunt at the Lands End Amphitheatre in Bandra, and the Kailash Kher concert in support of Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption at Azaad Maidan on April 9. Some of the money also comes in from parent company Bajaao, which recently got a fresh infusion of funds when it was acquired in February for Rs5 crore by JMD Telefilms, a firm that somewhat ironically specialises in Indian devotional music (JMD stands for “Jai Mata Di”).

With JMD’s plans to invest an additional Rs25 crore in expansion of the business, indie music fans can be rest assured that B69 is in no danger of shutting down. And despite the fact that the ground beneath your feet does seem to shake when the crowd starts jumping around, it’s in no danger of crumbling down either. “The BMC has checked it out,” said Bangera. The foundation, he assures, has been “tried and tested” particularly during their packed-to-the-walls first gig last year. The next step, said Bangera, is electronica nights (which also became a regular feature at Razzberry Rhinoceros) but not before they “get the [right] vibe” by installing a suitable light design.

The next gig at B69, Control Alt Delete Chapter II featuring Split, Sridhar/Thayil, The Lightyears Explode and The Riot Peddlers among others, will be held on Saturday, April 23. See here for details.

LocationB69
21 Bhaidas Bhuta Compound
Mogra Lane, off Old Nagardas Road,
Andheri (East)

Phone99206 64370/93200 38513

Websitewww.b69.in